otamus should follow them. One harpoon had missed; the other had
fixed the bull of the herd, at which it had been surely aimed. This was
grand sport! The bull was in the greatest fury, and rose to the surface,
snorting and blowing in his impotent rage; but as the ambatch float was
exceedingly large, and this naturally accompanied his movements, he
tried to escape from his imaginary persecutor, and dived constantly,
only to find his pertinacious attendant close to him upon regaining the
surface. This was not to last long; the howartis were in earnest, and
they at once called their party, who, with two of the aggageers, Abou Do
and Suleiman, were near at hand; these men arrived with the long ropes
that form a portion of the outfit for hippo hunting.

The whole party now halted on the edge of the river, while two men swam
across with one end of the long rope. Upon gaining the opposite bank, I
observed that a second rope was made fast to the middle of the main
line; thus upon our side we held the ends of two ropes, while on the
opposite side they had only one; accordingly, the point of junction of
the two ropes in the centre formed an acute angle. The object of this
was soon practically explained. Two men upon our side now each held a
rope, and one of these walked about ten yards before the other. Upon
both sides of the river the people now advanced, dragging the rope on
the surface of the water until they reached the ambatch float that was
swimming to and fro, according to the movements of the hippopotamus
below. By a dexterous jerk of the main line, the float was now placed
between the two ropes, and it was immediately secured in the acute angle
by bringing together the ends of these ropes on our side.

The men on the opposite bank now dropped their line, and our men hauled
in upon the ambatch float that was held fast between the ropes. Thus
cleverly made sure, we quickly brought a strain upon the hippo, and,
although I have had some experience in handling big fish, I never knew
one pull so lustily as the amphibious animal that we now alternately
coaxed and bullied. He sprang out of the water, gnashed his huge jaws,
snorted with tremendous rage, and lashed the river into foam; he then
dived, and foolishly approached us beneath the water. We quickly
gathered in the slack line, and took a round turn upon a large rock,
within a few feet of the river. The hippo now rose to the surface, about
ten yards from the hunters, and, j